L'Arche in the UK

There are twelve L’Arche Communities in the UK. The first Community opened in 1974 in Kent and our newest Community opened in Manchester in 2013. In each Community, we offer high quality, person-centred support for adults with learning disabilities.

Reflecting the diversity, uniqueness and differing needs of each person, some individuals are supported in their own homes for a few hours per week, while others are supported twenty-four hours a day in our assisted living services.

L’Arche Communities are vibrant places of welcome, belonging and celebration. As an organisation we are committed to providing people with learning disabilities the opportunities and support they need to lead fulfilling and empowered lives.

Latest

Sam Wells on 'being with' and belonging in a time of loneliness

In November 2018, L'Arche UK hosted a public event at the Wellcome Collection in London, exploring the role of intentional communities like L'Arche in creating places of belonging in a time of loneliness.
National Leader (Chief Executive)

Full time, UK wide £52,000-£56,000
When I’m at L’Arche I like my body

and, because of that, I’m learning to love it when I’m not.
Jean Vanier: Belonging in an age of loneliness

‘So as you’re stripped away from all that is not the primal innocence, there is something then which is the only thing which is at the heart of the universe, is what brings everything together, and that is love.’

L'Arche globally

L'Arche is a group of over 130 worldwide communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities share life together in community.

Residential vacancies

L'Arche live-in assistants live and work in our Communities with and alongside people with learning disabilities. Apply here.
Join us as an assistant

Spend a year as an assistant and we will give you an experience of difference that will change your life.
L'Arche in the UK

There are twelve L’Arche Communities based across the UK.
What we do

In a world that values winning, L’Arche Communities are places where people with and without learning disabilities can discover who they are and not just what they can do.
Jean Vanier

Jean Vanier founded L'Arche in 1964, after becoming aware of the plight of thousands of people with learning disabilities who were institutionalised in France. He has been, and remains, an inspiring teacher. His life is testament to a radically different way of living and being in the world.Jean’s awards include the French Legion of Honour, Companion of the Order of Canada, the Rabbi Gunther Plaut Humanitarian Award 2001, the International Paul VI Award, and the Templeton Prize.
Summer in the Forest

Summer in the Forest is a full-length feature film about our founder Jean Vanier and the L’Arche communities in Trosly, France and Bethlehem. It tells how two L’Arche communities, though quite different from those in the UK, share our common values.
Jean Vanier interview: belonging in a time of loneliness.

We interviewed Jean Vanier, the founder of L'Arche, at his home in the L'Arche Trosly Community in France. Listen to Jean as he reflects on ageing and fragility, loss and loneliness, and the mystery that compels people to L'Arche.
Supported living

While some individuals wish to live in a home with other people, others prefer to be supported to live independently. At L’Arche we help people to choose a way of life that feels right for them, and for their families.
Shared living

Across our twelve Communities in the UK we offer a range of high quality, person-centred residential support to more than two hundred individuals with learning disabilities.
Support Assistant, L'Arche London

40 hours per week. Permanent contract. Immediate start - Spring 2018.